Stroke Awareness Day

Today was Stroke Awareness Day in Wolverhampton. Every year, around 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke. That’s one person every five minutes. Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the UK and is no respector of age with almost one quarter of that number affecting younger people and children.

Club members were at the Wulfrun Centre working with local NHS volunteers conducting free blood pressure tests to help make sure that as many people as possible know their numbers.

A blood pressure reading is always in the form of two numbers, for example 130/80. The top number is the maximum pressure in your arteries when your heart beats and is called the systolic pressure. The bottom number (diastolic pressure) is the pressure in your arteries while your heart is resting between beats. Taken together, these numbers give a very good indication of how hard your heart is having to work to pump blood around your body and are an indicator of your susceptibility to stroke.

If you weren't able to visit us today to find out your numbers then don't run the risk of having a stroke - spend 10 minutes to have your blood pressure checked.